Thread: Drill Press

That looks like the one I bought from a hardware chain for around $300 on special. A bit noisy, but otherwise smooth. Have found no issues with thicker steel when using a cutting lubricant liquid.

I bought a Hare & Forbes floor mounted pedestal drill. It is variable speed by belt and spindle adjustments. I've had it a couple of years and is excellent.
I even put a paddle in the chuck and used it as a mixing machine to mix ceramic tile adhesive with and after many loads it still goes without problems.

D147 | SPD-25A Pedestal Drill | machineryhouse.com.au

Trade Tools advertise one with electronic variable speed for around $700. I would buy one if it was MT3 not MT2. I already have an MT2 machine, 1.5 horsepower, 16 speeds, but it is belt and pulleys. I am sick of moving belts around and want either a geared head machine or a variable speed machine.

I had one of these, D148 | PD-22 Pedestal Drill | machineryhouse.com.au and it was great. Even did small milling jobs with it before I updates to a mill for everything. The square table is far superior to the round ones as you can use T-slot clamps in them.

Originally Posted by bacicat

That is a similar size and HP to mine - it works fine for most things, but does start to struggle in thicker steel above a 3/4" hole. If you don't have any requirements for drilling large holes in steel on a regular basis, then it will be fine.

I have one of those Chinese bench drill presses, I woke up that the motor can get hot quickly when overloaded, I had to dismantle it to free the plastic internal fan blade after it had melted.

That mishap was a fair while ago and the drill has done it's job well, I agree it's not in the same league as the three phase engineers shop drill press, but it does me.
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